The latest storm to sock western Colorado pushed this December into the top 10 snowiest on record in Grand Junction, and another blast of arctic air moving in behind it will ensure the snow sticks around for a while.

Grand Junction received 1.5 inches of snow Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, giving the city 10.7 inches of snow for the month, according to Joe Ramey, forecaster with the National Weather Service.

“We’re going to get some flurries today, but we’re pretty much done (with snow) for December,” he said Wednesday.

That makes this December the 10th-snowiest since the Weather Service began keeping records in 1893. The 10.7 inches this month is more than double the average December snowfall of 5.1 inches, Ramey said.

The storm may make a mess of travelers’ holiday plans, but it gave people who plan to ski or snowboard on Christmas a timely gift. Twelves inches of new snow fell at Powderhorn Ski Resort, Ramey said.

The storm hit southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado particularly hard before moving off to the east. Among the higher snowfall totals, 12 inches fell in Dove Creek, 11 in Blanding, Utah, and eight in Silverton and Bluff, Utah. Even Moab, Utah, received four inches of snow, according to the Weather Service.

A winter weather advisory remained in effect until Wednesday morning for southwestern and eastern Colorado, with forecasts calling for up to a foot of snow in some areas.

Following the storm is a mass of cold air that will drop high temperatures into the 20s and overnight lows into the single digits or below zero for the next several days in Grand Junction.